Friday, 28 February 2014

I'd like to share with you today, if I may, another project I did for the current issue of Crafts Beautiful (March 2014).

With out further ado do....

They asked me to create a couple of birthday cards suitable for children; one with a shaker element. I found this great stamp and die set by Sizzix which was perfect; especially teamed up with bright, zingy colours. I decided to make the jelly beans for the shaker part, I die cut them and added a highlight rather than stamp and then die cut. I think they look rather mouth watering.

The good thing is, these cards would be perfect to send anyone with a sweet tooth, young or old!

Why not pop over to the Crafts Beautiful website? It's packed with ideas, projects, inspiration, free downloads, hints and tips. There is also a lovely forum you can join. You will need to register if you want to download and print any templates/papers. It is free and is simple to do.

So, my lovelies! I'm going to pop off for now. Will be back soon...I promise. Take care xxx

Saturday, 22 February 2014

It's a beautiful day here in Norfolk. Hope the weather is good where ever you are :o)

I have designs in Crafts Beautiful every month, but I never seem to get round to giving you a sneaky peek. So now I am.

At the moment I am doing the 'Master Class' section where each month I show you how to do a paper crafting technique. This month it's tea-bag folding; as usual I've put my own quirky take on it.

Here goes...

The Master Class section is great as it takes you through the technique with six hand shot stages (by the way, lovely as they are, they're not my hands).

I'm having great fun doing these classes as it's introducing me to new ways of crafting that I've never really been interested in. I have surprised myself in that I've enjoyed trying out these new techniques.

The March issue is out now, and for more crafting ideas, projects and inspiration, visit Crafts Beautiful (the Robot Moustache and the Love Monster projects on the site's homepage are actually my designs. They've made a boo-boo with the designer's name - oops!). You can subscribe to CB, or download it as an app or to your Kindle Fire.

I'm going to love you and leave you for the mo. I will be back soon with another project I have in this month's CB.

Sunday, 16 February 2014

Well, what a difference from yesterday. We have blue skies and no wind! Yippee! It's quite mild as well. Even the chickens are sunbathing this morning.

Hopefully this clement weather will last long enough to dry out the garden a bit. I can't moan really, when all those poor people down in the South East have had their homes ruined by floods. What's a soggy, boggy lawn compared to that?

As promised in my post yesterday, I have another quirky 'love' card to share with you. Again, this is part of the set I did for the February 2013 issue of Crafts Beautiful. I think this would be good for an engagement or anniversary card.

Here goes...

What you need...

Stamps: Falling For You - Paper Smooches

Dies: Labels Eight - Spellbinders

Card: white, purple, lime, aqua

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Promarkers

Punch: corner rounder

Ribbon: purple

Button: aqua

Twine: white

Glitter dots

Adhesives

What you do...

Stamp, emboss and colour in the bat, two plain hearts, a plaid heart and the sentiment. Cut out the bat with a label die, mount it onto a larger lime then a large aqua label. Trim a small section from the top and attach to a top fold A6 blank.

Cut out the hearts and sentiment and mount onto purple card and adhere to the blank. Round off the two bottom corners of the blank, wrap and tie ribbon around the top of the card. Finish with a button tied with twine and a few glitter dots.

There we have it, another bright quirky card. I just love the colour combination of this set. They are some of my fave colours and I tend to use them quite a lot. Bright and cheerful is the way to go. Don't be afraid of using bright, clashing colours together; they look great against a white background.

That's me for the nonce. I'll be back soon to show you a sneaky peek of my makes in the current issues of Crafts Beautiful and Papercrafter.

Saturday, 15 February 2014

I've got wind. Sorry, Norfolk's got wind, as most of the country has. It's not good, it's not nice, I don't like it, it scares me, I want it to go away now.

Okay, moan over. Just in the middle of commissions (got loads to do), but I thought I would take a break for a few. As yesterday was Valentine's Day, I thought I would show you a couple of cards I did for an issue of Crafts Beautiful last year. I'll show the other card in my next post :o).

So, without further ado do....

What you need...

Stamps: Falling For You - Paper Smooches

Card: white, purple, hot pink, lime, aqua

Ink pad: Onyx Black - Versafine

Embossing powder: Detail Clear - Stampendous

Promarkers

Punch: corner rounder

Glitter dots

Adhesives

What you do...

Round off the top right of a 12cm square blank. Repeat with an 11cm square piece of hot pink card and mat centrally onto the blank.

Stamp, emboss and colour the acorn, three plaid hearts and a sentiment. Trim the acorn, round off the top right corner and mat on purple card then aqua card, again rounding the top right corners.

Adhere the acorn panel to the lower left of the blank. Cut out the three hearts and sentiment, mount onto lime card, trim and attach to the blank. Finish with a few glitter dots.

Ta da! There you have it, a modern Valentine card. It would also be suitable for any time you want to let that special person know how much you love them.

As you probably know by now, I'm a huge fan of Paper Smooches. The images are so bold and clear and are perfect for clean and simple cards and colouring in. There are now a few suppliers in the UK selling Smooches goodies. Why not have a browse on t'internet and treat yourself to some yummies?

Right, break over. Back to the commissions. Enjoy the rest of your Saturday and I'll be back later with another quirky 'love card'.

2. Post a piccy of the candy with a link to this post in your sidebar (if you have a blog)

3. Leave me a comment (with your blog address if you have one) ta da! You are entered!

If you do have a blog, it will be great to have a look and see what you are up to :)

This candy will close on 28th February 2014, I will then use RANDOM.ORG to choose the winner!

The candy is open to all, nationally, internationally, those in outer space and previous winners. However, anyone who has a blog that does not show or appear to have any crafty makes, will not be entered.So what are you waiting for? Get those comments made! Good luck :o} xx

Sunday, 2 February 2014

I hope you have all had a fantastic weekend. The weather here is Norfolk has been beautiful, just like a Spring day. I won't get too excited though, 'cos it will soon change no doubt. The chickens seem to have enjoyed the nice weather, though Bren shot across the garden yesterday when a breeze blew up her fluffy pantaloons - ha har!

Before I get on to the winner of the January candy, I would like to say a big thank you for all the lovely comments, thoughts and wishes with regards to the loss of my Dad. It makes me smile that there are such wonderful caring people out there in the world. You definitely don't feel alone.

I would like to also say a huge and enormous hello to all my lovely new followers. It's great having you on board and I had a peep at all your lovely blogs. Ooh! You are a talented lot!

Right. On to the winner (I can feel the excitement). I have given everyone who left a comment a number and the winning number has been randomly picked by Random.Org. Below is the list of names and a snapshot of the picked number....

El

Ardilla

Joola

Meredith

Robin

Rebecca

UT

Roudi

Divya

Bhawana

Iris

Dawn

Viola

Neha

Carmen

Jaya

Berina

Hridya

Jenn

Olenkaja

Leanne

Glo

Rupali

Paperkate

Justyna

Kiranmayee

Misiowa

Divinity

Tindaloo

Ayushi

Dzej nej

Laila

Agnes

Jessie

Art with Heart

Ann Maria

Suman

Cebelica

The winning number is #6 - Rebecca! Congratulations! If you email me your postal address I will send your goodies to you.

For those who didn't win this time don't be too down hearted :o( I'll be posting February's candy very soon :oD